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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

City paints ugly picture on second day of strike : The Hindu

The municipal workers, including sanitation staff, are protesting against the delay in salaries

Trash littered the streets of the Capital on Thursday as municipal workers, including sanitation staff, remained on strike for the second day to protest against the delay in salaries.

Two of the three municipal corporations of Delhi – North and East – have not handed out salaries to most of their employees for three months now, though safai karamcharis have been issued wages for December last week.

The two civic bodies have been hit by a financial crisis and have failed to disburse salaries on time for about a year.

On Thursday, a group of protesting workers threw garbage into Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s camp office in East Delhi, which was the worst affected by the strike.

Shouting slogans, the workers hurled trash over the gate of the office. Mr. Sisodia is an MLA from Patparganj in East Delhi.

“When we are finding it difficult to put food on the table, how can we be expected to work? There was no work done on Thursday and we will continue to strike till our salaries are paid,” said Sanjay Gehlot, president of the Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha.

Garbage was seen on the streets in East and North Delhi, including areas like Mayur Vihar, Anand Parbat, Karol Bagh and Jahangirpuri.

The situation may deteriorate as some unions have announced an indefinite stir till their demands of regular salaries, arrears and medical insurance are met.

However, some employee unions plan to end their strike on Friday.

Residents said the strike, the fourth in the past one year, had hit them the worst. “Wherever we went we saw roads lined with garbage, whether it was Krishna Nagar or Geeta Colony. We don’t understand why citizens are being harassed like this,” said B.S. Vohra, president of the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front Federation.

A large number of employees of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation protested at its headquarters – the Civic Centre. Thursday’s protest included mid-level managerial staff, who had so far not participated in any strike.

Doctors in the civic bodies’ hospitals had not joined the strike as of Thursday evening as they did not want to inconvenience patients.

“We will hold a general body meeting on Friday to decide whether to join the strike. As of now, hospitals and dispensaries are working smoothly,” said Dr. R. R. Gautam, president of the Municipal Corporation Doctors’ Association.